Neil Collins' reaction to an awful League One afternoon for Barnsley FC against Lincoln City and an update on Donovan Pines

Behind 1-0 at half-time after a 15th-minute goal from Joe Taylor, the Reds went to pieces in the second half, more especially from a defensive perspective on what became a torrid afternoon in the end.

Quick-fire goals from outstanding substitute Jack Moylan and Daniel Mandroiu put the Imps – unbeaten since New Year’s Day – 3-0 in front early in the second half.

Moylan added a fourth from distance and despite Adam Phillips pulling one back with his fifth goals in three home games, the visitors promptly went straight up the other end to add a fifth courtesy of another replacement in Jovon Makama.

It helped Lincoln – who Barnsley have not beaten at league level since 1973 – boost their outside hopes of the play-offs themselves on a day when the Reds dropped to fifth in the table.

Reflecting on a grim day at the office, Collins, whose side visit rock-bottom Carlisle United on Tuesday night, said: “It probably does not take a rocket scientist to work out that we had the majority of our team, if not almost all, way below the standards we have set.

"I should stress that the players have been fantastic this season and taken a lot of plaudits, rightly so.

"But today, we had so many who just fell below their levels – and we made basic individual errors that were capitalised on by a very good side who are in a really good moment in time.

"The scoreline was a combination of things. The biggest one being that we had two many players way below par.

"Collectively, we had so many players off it.

"It was hard, but we are all part of it and I am part of it. We need to work out why we made those mistakes as we knew what we were getting with Lincoln as we knew how good they’d been and I don’t want to take anything away from their performance.

"They are well organised and did a lot of good things. But there’s no question that we made it an awful lot easier for them and we don’t normally make it easy for teams and we are really difficult to beat.

"We did not make them work hard enough for it.

"It was a tough day for everyone as we wanted to continue our charge."

The Reds had to make do without US defender Donovan Pines, who missed out with a knock sustained in Tuesday night’s draw with Bolton Wanderers.

Collins added: "Donovan picked up a knock in the first half on Tuesday night. He managed to get through the game.

"But he just wasn’t ready in time for today. Of course, Donovan has been excellent, but I actually thought that Jamie (McCart) was probably the one player I’d give pass marks to and I think he did a lot of good things.

"We are assessing it day by day (Pines’ injury). We’ll see.”

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